Is George R.R. Martin About to Bring the 'Game of Thrones' Prequel to HBO?

Deadline reported last night that George R.R. Martin, the author behind thefantasy series that inspired HBO's mega-hit Game of Thrones, has signed a two-year deal with the network that will keep him as co-executive producer of that show — and see Martin develop and produce a new series, and perhaps more, for the network.

Though it's obviously very up in the air what those other projects could be, one possibility that Martin's fans are already salivating over what could be a plan to adapt his prequel novella series The Tales of Dunk and Egg. Upon news of Martin's HBO deal, Winteriscoming.net noted that Game of Thrones co-executive producer "Vince Gerardis has mentioned a few times they’ve talked about doing a Dunk & Egg series." The site added: "Might GRRM and HBO be looking to develop a mini-series or movies based on those short stories set in Westeros approximately 90 years prior to the events of Thrones? Only time will tell."

About a year ago Gerardis said in an interview, originally in Portuguese, that the possibility of doing something with Dunk and Egg had been previously discussed but ultimately put aside, and that show developers didn't anticipate anything coming of it for at least two years. Well, that would put us in the right time frame, right now.

So is a Dunk and Egg series the logical next step for Martin? Maybe. But maybe not. As Den of Geek points out, Martin's had been involved with television before Game of Thrones came to the small screen — and even before the Song of Ice and Fire series began being published — so it's possible that he could leave Westeros for his next projects.